Phylogenetic analysis of Nilgiri langur using mitochondrial cytochrome B gene

Abstract

Old world monkeys comprise 28 Langur species which belong to subfamily Colobinae under family Cercopithecidae. Nilgiri Langurs (Trachypithecus johnii) are endemic to the rain forests of the Western Ghats. The current study is an attempt at comparative phylogeny based on mitochondrial CYTB (mtCYTB) gene of Nilgiri Langur with other langurs. Faecal sample was collected from Nilgiri langur and the genomic DNA was isolated. The 1140 bp mitochondrial CYTB was amplified and sequenced using Sanger’s di-deoxy method. The amplified sequence along with the 27 sequences of Trachypithecus and Semnopithecus that were retrieved from the GenBank database were used for analysis. The phylogenetic tree was constructed by the maximum likelihood method in MEGA X. The analysis showed the clustering of Nilgiri langur with other langurs of the Semnopithecus sp. as a single clade.

Keywords

• mitochondria
• langur
• cytb
• trachypithecus
• semnopithecus
• phylogeny